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Thanks Errant.

Ice core data supports the theory that the earth’s normal climate is much colder than what we’re seeing today, and that we’re currently at the end of a typical 12K year warm period which themselves occur approximately every 100K years or so in the recent past (from 800K years of ice core data)... what causes the earth to warm up for 12K years after the 100K year cold period? ...What causes the warming?

Use of the ice core data means the assumption that none of the ice was laid down quickly, iow, that there is a ring structure analogous to tree rings, with a stable period of accumulation.

Large impacts are usually on open water, due to the Earth's surface being mostly water; the energy puts the enormous amount of water into the atmosphere as vapor, and it precipitates over a short period of time as ice, snow, sleet, etc, after losing heat at high altitude, and any dust cover darkens the globe, such that the darkness and attendant cooling continues for a long period of time (weeks, months, sometimes a few years). There's no change in the solar output, other than what it was going to do anyway, but it takes many a summer to melt miles of ice, even after the cloud cover is gone.

The distribution of the ice age glaciers varies a great deal, and supports this impact model, even showing where to look for the impact craters, e.g., somewhere near the center of the distribution.

The distribution of the ice age glaciers varies a great deal, and supports this impact model, even showing where to look for the impact craters, e.g., somewhere near the center of the distribution.

Give me some scientific evidence (cites) to support that statement.

I don’t think the low-level dust or even pyroclastic material is the problem, rather the ejecta and/or pyroclastic material propelled into the upper reaches of the atmosphere which would cool the planet. Low level material which reduced the albedo of ice sheets would contribute to warming, high level material would decrease the amount of energy which reached the surface—and this has been known to occur on a global scale, whether driven by tectonics or an impact.